Day 2/2: Monday, January 6, 2020: Fort Lauderdale, Embarkation and Deport

We rose about 6:30 am and I wanted to get a sunrise photo, but the clouds on the horizon were not cooperating.

We had breakfast and messed around until noon.

It took about an hour to get to the port. When we arrived, they could not find a room card for Stephen. They told us to just go ahead and go aboard. Well, that did go that easily. We were turned away at the dock and went back to the start where, when they looked again, found Stephen's card.

We are in Room 725 on the starboard side, almost directly mid-ships. This is a "Silver" category suite and about 650 square feet including 100 square feet of veranda. It seems to me there is a lot of wasted space, but oh well! The twin beds are each very small. The sofa folds out to serve as the third bed (mine for most of the trip). The shower is very tiny. The tub is jetted. I thought there were 1-1/2 baths. I was incorrect, there is one bath, but there is a secondary guest door to the toilet.

As we were waiting to depart, the Carnival Sunrise left port. This is a 101,000 gross ton ship with around 3,000 guests and 1,100 crew. Our ship by comparison is 28,000 tons with 380 guests and a crew of 300.

Reflective of the size of our ship, there is no forward deck or hot tub, just zodiac storage.

We ate in the restaurant. We both had the filet mignon. They brought it to the table raw along with a hot block of salt. You put the steak on the block and got to determine exactly how done you wanted it. I loved it!!!

Day 1/1: Sunday, January 5, 2020: So It Begins; Gala is Palm Beach

Flight from IAH to PBI started a little ify with not being able to check in online. I mentioned this to Maxine in a note and she graciously contacted the airline to find that something was not synchronizing. She told me just to show up and all would be well. I did and, while it took longer to get my boarding pass than it did getting through Security, all did go OK.

The flight was aboard an Embraer A-175 and only took about two hours. We were scheduled to arrive shortly after 4:00 pm local time, but we arrived at 3:45 pm. I didn't realize that the reason we arrived so early is that Trump spent the weekend in Mar-a-Lago and was scheduled to fly out of PBI at 4:00 pm. So, they shut down the airport until he departed. I waited for over an hour for my checked luggage to be brought to the Luggage Claim before the Silversea representative who met me suggested I go on to the hotel and they would bring my luggage later. Until today, I did not know where Ma-a-Lago was relative to anything else. It is directly south of the Breakers hotel we will be staying at on Palm Beach.

Stephen had arrived at the hotel a couple of hours prior to my arrival. He flew into Fort Lauderdale and they chauffeured him to Palm Beach.

During the drive from the airport to the Breakers hotel, I saw a lot of yachts and Teslas. There is some serious money here.

The hotel is very fancy and nice.

We had several hours to look around and enjoy the bar before the gala began at 7:00 pm.

We were told it was a dress affair, but we saw everything from jeans to tuxedos.

We retired relatively early. We aren't scheduled to leave for Port Everglades until noon tomorrow.

Friday, December 27, 2019: Final Preparations

Stephen H flies from IAD to FLL on January 5, 2020 and is met by Silverseas and bused down to Palm Beach. I fly from IAH directly to PBI on January 5. We will attend a gala that evening and

spend then night at the Breakers in Palm Springs (https://www.thebreakers.com/). While Stephen is bringing his luggage with him, being the only "full trip" guest, I have a valet service which picked up my two checked bags at Laura's house in League City on December 27 and delivered them to my cabin on board the Whisper.

The following day, January 6, we are bused back up to Fort Lauderdale to board the Silversea Whisper. This first segment is 22 days in length.

Monday, September 16, 2019: Final Guest List

I have made the final payments for the trip and have closed the window for further additional guests. The final guest list is as follows:

• Segment 1: Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires
• Stephen H
• Segment 2: Buenos Aires to Valparaiso 
• Maria S
• Segment 3: Valparaiso to Papeete
• Maria S, Sarah B
• Segment 4: Papeete to Sydney
• Maria S, Sarah B
• Segment 5: Sydney to Singapore
• Maria S
• Segment 6: Singapore to Mumbai
• Maria S
• Segment 7: Mumbai to Rome
• David H
• Segment 8: Rome to Dublin
• Laura T, Diane H
• Segment 9: Dublin to Amsterdam
• Sarah B, Stephen H

We have given all the guest until the end of September to decide how much time they wish to spend both at the embarkation and the debarkation ports. Once this is decided, we can proceed with booking airline and hotel arrangements.

I have offered to provide business air to eveyone and one night's accomodations both at the ports of embarkation and debarkation. If anyone wants to stay longer, it is on their tab.

Here are the arrangements as of today:

Segment 1:

• Flight from IAD to FLL: January 5, 2020, United #6370
• Pre-embarkation night: January 5, 2020, stays with me in my hotel furnished by Silversea
• Post-debarkation night: January 27, 2020, Alvear Palace Hotel, Buenos Aires
• Flight from EZE to IAD: January 28, 2020, Avianca AV218/246

Segment 2:

• Flight from MIA to EZE: January 24, 2020, Avianca #AV217
• Pre-embarkation nights: January 24, 25, 26, 2020, Alvear Palace, Buenos Aires
• Post-debarkation nights: none
• Flight from Valparaiso to MIA: none 

Friday, May 24, 2019: Visa Update

Last week I followed the instructions that Silverseas had sent to Maxine for the visas I would need for the world cruise. There were four that they said I would need to apply for. I successfully applied for both the Brazilian and Australian visas but ran into problems on the Sri Lanka and India. Both of the later required that the visas be applied for within 90 days of visit. This would be after I had started the cruise so Maxine sent a note to Silverseas asking for guidance.

In the mean time, I got a message from VFS informing me that as of June 1, 2019, visas will no longer be required for Brazil. That was great, except I had already charge the visa application fee to my credit card and they would not cancel or refund. Hence, I got the worthless Brazilian visa for only $44.24.

While my credit card was charged for the Australian ETA application ($13.80US) , I have not received anything yet and when going on-line to check the status, they say they have no record of my application...even though they did charge me for it.

Not to worry however since, in the mean time, Maxine got a response from Silverseas saying that they would apply for all required visas and I did was stupid for following their previous instructions.

Whew, for only $58.04 wasted, I don't have to worry about visas anymore. I told Maxine this level of incompetence on the part of Silverseas is not a reassuring beginning.